Iran Policy
On November 22, the U.S. ambassador to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) alleged that Iran failed to declare all its chemical weapons to the group. “The United States is also concerned that Iran is pursuing Central Nervous System-Acting Chemicals for offensive purposes…
On November 24, President Hassan Rouhani called Israel a “cancerous tumor” and a “fake regime” established by Western powers. At the annual Islamic Unity Conference in Tehran, Rouhani also called on the world’s Muslims to unite against the Jewish state and the United States. Other Iranian leaders…
On November 5, President Hassan Rouhani condemned the reimposition of U.S. sanctions on Iran. “We have to make Americans understand that they cannot talk to the great Iranian nation with the language of pressure and sanctions. They have to be punished,” he told officials from the Ministry of…
In the runup to the reimposition of U.S. sanctions, President Hassan Rouhani accused the United States of disregarding its international obligations. “The US is, in effect, threatening states who seek to abide by [U.N.] resolution 2231 with punitive measures,” he wrote in an op-ed in the Financial…
On October 14, President Hassan Rouhani said the Trump administration is the most hostile U.S. administration it has faced in four decades. “Of course, enmities existed, but now, the worst have gathered in the White House,” he said in a speech marking the beginning of the academic year at Tehran…
On October 4, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei asserted that Iran’s economy is strong enough to “defeat” U.S. sanctions. He delivered a defiant address to a stadium filled with thousands of members of the Basij paramilitary. Khamenei criticized President Donald Trump for “wishful thinking”…
Robin Wright had two interviews with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif during his week-long trip to the United Nations in New York. One was one-on-one, and the second was with a group of journalists. The following are excerpts arranged by issues.
U.S. Policy and Potential for…
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani repeatedly rebuked the Trump Administration—for abandoning the historic 2015 nuclear deal with Iran and “bullying the world”— during his four-day visit to the U.N. General Assembly. “The government of the United States—at least the current administration—seems…
On September 28, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo ordered the evacuation of diplomatic personnel from the U.S. consulate in Basrah in southern Iraq. The announcement followed rocket attacks directed toward the Basrah consulate and the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad earlier in the month. Pompeo held Iran…
Presidents Hassan Rouhani, Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan met in Tehran on September 7 to discuss the final battlefront in Idlib province and Syria's political future. The summit is their third on Syria. In November 2017, they met in Sochi, Russia, and in April 2018 they met in Ankara,…